Gothic America
Ninth Annual American Art History Graduate Student Symposium, Yale University Saturday, May 5, 2012

Keynote Address:
Wendy Ikemoto, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Art, Vassar College

The Department of the History of Art at Yale University announces its ninth annual American Art History Symposium. The organizers seek proposals from graduate students whose work addresses the gothic tradition in American art and visual culture. Although the founding of the United States was rooted in Enlightenment concepts of order and reason, American cultural productions have long exploited unreason, the dark and mysterious, and the supernatural. What roles – social, political, economic – does this gothic strain play? How does it manifest in different historical periods, from the eighteenth century to the present? We invite papers that address work in all visual media, including architecture, photogrphy, and film.

An abstract of approximately 300 words, along with a CV, should be received for consideration by Wednesday, March 14. Selected speakers will be notified by Thursday, March 22.

Please e-mail materials to americanist.symposium@gmail.com

For further inquiries, please contact Ruthie Dibble (ruthie.dibble@yale.edu) and Nicole Bass (nicole.bass@yale.edu)